The Data Election

At the moment, all focus in British politics is on one date: December 12th, the date of the General Election. But six weeks after that, there’s another, equally important date: The 31st January. Brexit Day. Well, maybe. What happens on Brexit will, of course, hinge on what happens in the election – that’s why it […]

We now have just over two weeks to go until the 12th December, and the election is in full swing: There have been two major set-piece TV events (the ITV debate and Question Time), and all of the major parties have now launched their manifestos. The debate will now be about policy and, for example, […]

Yesterday I wrote about how this election could be defined by something completely unpredictable, such as a viral Facebook post that doesn’t even contain accurate information. In a happy coincidence, today marks the publication of some new research by the Open Rights Group, which may give us an indication how savvy voters are, when it […]

In a previous era, elections as with the rest of political life were given structure by media and political gatekeepers. The news was only what was printed in newspapers or broadcast on TV, and politics was only played by a small class of people known as “politicians”. Elections were defined by a set of events, […]

So… did it make a difference? That’s the question that will be asked today by the pundit classes as we digest last night’s ITV election debate. So it is helpful then that straight after the broadcast, YouGov conducted a snap poll of 1646 viewers to get their reaction. Here’s the top-line: Who won? As the […]